Page 83 of Girl, Empty
CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN
Ella had only had to smash two panes and three doors to reach the roof, which was less casualties than she’d expected.Because she’d done something most people had forgotten how to do – just unplug everything.
‘What the… who are you?’Calvin screamed.
‘I’m the FBI, and you need to pun that gun down, Calvin.’
‘No.This can’t happen.’He yanked Kevin’s hair, and the old man tried to kick him off.‘He needs to confess.He needs to die.’
‘There’ll be no more dying.You’ve got three seconds to put that gun down.One… two….’
Calvin spun, then dropped his pistol to the ground.Ella was surprised at the sudden compliance, and that gave her cause for concern.‘Good.Now raise your hands and kick it away from you.’
Calvin's eyes ping-ponged between Ella and the gun at his feet like a lab rat who'd just discovered the maze had no exit.After a moment, he kicked the gun away.It landed beside a yellow notebook.‘How did you get here?I locked this place down.’
‘You didn’t lock anything down.It’s just wires, Roth.My partner just killed the power to this place and every lock disengaged.All we had to do was hammer through the deadbolts.’
Calvin's face went through several expressions at once.Disbelief gave way to rage, and Ella had to admit she enjoyed watching this genius grapple with the terrible understanding that he'd been outsmarted by a crowbar.
‘That's impossible.’
‘Nothing’s impossible.Only things that look impossible.’
Calvin begun to shiver and twitch, like a kid who needed the bathroom.His eyes kept darting to the roof's edge, to the door that wasn't there anymore, to Kevin Wolfe who was bleeding but breathing and definitely not about to get shot.
‘You're lying.’
‘I’m not lying about anything.I met your dear mother, the woman with scrambled eggs for brains, except they’re not as scrambled as she wants everyone to think.Ella took a half-step closer.‘She knew exactly what you were up to.And she knew exactly what she'd done to dear old dad.’
‘My mother didn't-’
‘Berries, Roth.Simple as that.Your dad had a reaction, which caused a heart attack.End of story.’
Calvin's breathing went shallow and quick, like he was drowning in air.‘That's not...Kevin killed him.Kevin locked him in that room and-,’
'Kevin didn't lock him anywhere, sweetpea.Your dad died because your mom had been feeding him poison.All these years you've been thinking there's some grand, convoluted answer, and really it was just berries.'
‘No.’Calvin shook his head so hard Ella worried he might snap something.‘She wouldn't.She loved him.’
'She murdered him, because Dennis Roth might have been a violent man, but he washerviolent man.He left bruises where they wouldn't show and made her flinch every time a door slammed.Your mother killed her abuser and let you spend fifteen years hating the wrong man because the truth was too ugly to tell a 14-year-old kid.’
‘She’s right,’ Kevin spluttered.‘I knew too.’
And Calvin broke.
A scream ripped from his throat and traveled on the wind across the outskirts of Indianapolis.He lunged at Kevin, grabbed him by the neck and suddenly they were dancing towards the edge of the roof.Kevin fought for leverage, but Calvin had youthful energy on his side.‘Shut up!Both of you!I’m going to kill you!’
This was it.
Ella had to take him down.
She rose her Glock.Clear shot.Clean line of fire.Kevin wasn't even in the way.
Then pulled the trigger.
Click.
It didn’t fire.
